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Interview with Caits Meissner (spoken word artist, graphic artist, lyricist, and all-around mellow lady)
Interview with artist Caits Meissner who is a New York City educator, spoken word poet, graphic artist, and musician.
I met Caits Meissner when we went to Ghana for the first year of the Pan African Literary Forum in 2008. Caits won a scholarship to attend for her phenomenal poetry and I was hankering to go to Africa and use up some bonus money. We were both there for the ambiance and the guidance of a great roster of instructors and authors, and we enjoyed our time immensely.
I have kept in touch with a handful of people from PALF and am certainly glad that Caits is one of them. She's a teacher, artist (in various genres), and gentile soul who's work will simultaneously inspire and astound you. I've heard her live and heard her audio and seen her graphic work and am consistently blown away. (Definitely check out her website(s) and follow her for upcoming gigs.) I was glad she offered to do an interview for her friends with blogs and she has inspired me to do a rotation of interviews with friends who are artists in their own right and want to spread the word about themselves.
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JBH: As an artist, how do you deal with the constant changes in media and social networking? Do you feel face-to-face is dead or as a spoken word poet do you feel you get to engage in meeting people more through performances than perhaps fiction writers and non-fiction writers and so on and so forth?
Caits: What a relevant question! My students, sometimes, when you ask them what their interests are say, "the internet," or "facebook." This fact frightens me, but I am not immune to it. I find myself "plugged in" too often and it accounts for a lot of disconnection in my own heart, despite the facade of intimacy. Its also a great way to be heard, so, like all things in this great life, its a balance. Unfortunately, I have never been much good at balance. I have a plugged in community, so I keep fairly up-to-date with the latest tech invention but its overwhelming. And exhausting. And I find myself less able to focus and lose myself in my art the way I was able to as a kid, with parent-limited 'net access, and a slower than syrup dial up connection. These days, I write a little, check my phone, write a little, check a blog, constantly checking in. Who wants to troll the internet for accolades and mentions constantly? Who wants to pump themselves to their friends and supporters over and over? The trick is detachment from an already detached networking system, and its a sincere practice in this day and age.
The good thing is, as a performer, I do feel connected to the larger world in a very tangible way, being on a stage. There is a direct contact: a handshake, a wink, a hug. But there is something very special, I still think, about being behind a pen and paper. You maintain a certain old-world mystery. I say embrace that. I waffle between wanting two very sharp distinctive worlds: being known and celebrated, and hiding, running away.
Caits: I struggle with this question, deeply. There are moments in the past when I would have loved to answer this question, ranting and raving and grinning. It defined me. These days, I am more acutely aware of what hard work being in front of a classroom is. How much energy you must give to the young faces in front of you. How unkind they can be and you take home the day like an old coat and dust it off, patch up the holes, put it back on and walk back into the wind. I shared this sentiment with a close friend, also a teaching artist, who said, "the amazing thing is, even when you aren't trying, young people are the center of your world when you teach, even if you teach part time, and there is a beauty in that." I agree.
Teaching becomes the center of my life, whether or not I wish my focus was more on myself, my love, my art. Teenagers demand a certain level of patience and attention and it becomes a very real meditation. Sometimes you wait weeks for a breakthrough, but when it happens, nothing is sweeter. The students I teach, for the most part, are not artists by their own definition. They find it difficult to be free in their expression and are afraid to create "wrong." Teaching reminds me there is no wrong. What a victory it can be to pull the creativity out.
Caits: I love this question! I am pretty good at sharing how much I love someone's art with them and I am blessed to have crossed paths with many of my old and new favorites. Of course, there are some that I just haven't... met, or written to, or expressed to. My friend Dionne Lee (look up her photos! Wowee.) has been writing to her favorite artists and getting amazing responses! She has been urging us to write to our influences and give them our love. I'm going to choose two women I'd love to gush to. Let me get to tell them now:
Dear Ani Difranco,
You saved me at thirteen. Seriously. In every way. Let me open for you.
Love, Caits
Dear Miranda July,
You remind me I can make all the art I wanna, in all kinds of ways. Thank you for expanding the boundaries of what my heart believed was possible for an artist. Thanks for destroying the box.
Love, Caits
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Caits: Of course! I have a big, baaaaddd website at http://www.caitsmeissner.com and I keep a daily blog at http://caitsmeissner.tumblr.com I tweet sometimes, too: http://www.twitter.com/caitsmeissner
Thanks, Caits for tackling these questions and for sharing your work, your kindness, and influences!
My Annual Travel: Ghana (3 of 3)
I know this last post is long overdue, and I apologize. I've called this series my annual travel because I do want to make it a yearly habit to go abroad. And I do mean abroad and not just to another borough or to the West Coast. Granted, America is different all over, but actually being outside the continent makes me feel like I'm closer to the outside world and not just simmering in my native NYC juices for the most part. I believe as artists (writers, photographers, painters, musicians, etc.) that we expand our art by learning about the outside world as well as reflecting what we've learned from our daily surroundings.
The yearn for traveling has taken me to Dublin, Ireland for 28 days where I was boarding with girls younger and older than me. And surprise, surprise I found that the women around my age or older (except for one) were the only people I could tolerate on a mental level. I still keep in touch with two of these lovely ladies from their new locations of Seattle and Boston. (Hope to see you soon Aexis & Colleen!) When I was in Dublin the Americans still had sympathy from 9/11 and pre-Iraq War. It'd be cool to return to Dublin to see what they think of us now that we've elected Barack Obama as our 44th president.
I've been to Canada twice, both times in Ontario, and found that in Toronto I had a feeling of blending in & belonging. While in Kingston racism was a bit more prevalent. My guide/friend at the time seemed to realize it more than I did, but it was weird to be up North where they consider themselves so much more advanced then us and to be in a small city where I got stares because of the color of my skin, I mean I haven't experienced that in any of my travels in the U.S., yet.
I spent a few days in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for a friends wedding and didn't get to experience Mexican culture too much because the area I was in was saturated with American corporations like Wal-mart, Pizza Hut, Dominoes, and I'm pretty sure I may have seen an Applebee's also. I did go ziplining on my last day through the forests of the city and after rapid sweats and one or two freak out sessions enjoyed my time thoroughly. I even buddied up with two older sisters that were probably in their 50s or so but had the vitality of someone thirty years younger. And what was awesome is that they made it a point to travel together every year.
This year's trip was one I have longed for to visit England, Hereford specifically. I was considering doing a travel abroad in England rather than Ireland than all this Mad Cow stuff happened and well, that was that. I'll want to hit up London at some point, but for research purposes of my novel I need to absorb myself in Hereford for at least three or four days. My hubby seems to really want to come with me which should be good. I hope he doesn't mind me dragging him across the Wye River and going on Cider tours.
My first opportunity to go to Africa was on the CCNY Study Abroad to Morocco. However, once I heard that I wouldn't get to shower on a daily basis the trip was null & void in my mind. Sorry, but there are some things I just can't negotiate. Even the opportunity to dump a bucket of water over me would've sufficed at the time.
But that was then and this is now.
PALF PEEPS Whenever one sets out to travel on their own various images come to mind. For one, what type of people are you going to meet? And two, if there's a language barrier, how will I ask where the bathroom is? For me, the arrival at the airport for my plan ride to Ghana reminded me of my trip to Dublin. I'd basically be cohabitating (kind of) with people I'd never met before of various personalities. And this worried me greatly. In Dublin we were all getting our BAs and were of different mindsets. For the first two days everyone was nice to one another and after that BAM came the divide. Of course living with eight other women tends to mean cattiness may be improbable.
So when we were all cordial (males & females all in our twenties or older) it was pleasant. I was optimistic about the people I'd get to meet. And you know what happened? They didn't disappoint whatsoever. Perhaps it was because it was an older group, and we're all artists just trying to make our way in life and better ourselves and our work that was the bonding theme throughout the conference. I mean having all these other factors that tend to make our daily lives inhabitable and just being together in the Motherland to appreciate this experience made for no ill will amongst those that I hung around. Of course I didn't get to know everyone over the course of a week and that saddens me a bit because I'm sure I missed out on some really cool personalities. I also didn't get to know some people I liked as well as I could've of (thanks traveler's diarrhea) but there was such an overflow of positivity that I felt good the whole time. Not once did I feel a need to bake anyone cookies to try and get with the in-crowd. Not that I could've baked but I could've bought some people digestive cookies.
To date I've been able to keep in contact or be "friended" with people on Facebook. I've seen people's posts about events in NYC, updates on their writing and life, and just queries about life in general. Facebook and Twitter updates have allowed me to know when the flow-tastic Caitlin is performing in the area, see the latest video (Cosmic Headphones) from poet and lyricist extraordinaire Eagle Nebula, hear about the new addition to Paula's family as she balances motherhood and a non-fiction book, and congratulating Chelsea on finishing her novel after years of research, sweat, and tears.
I was able to see my friend Stewart last week at Book Expo which was very happy making. And just saw on Facebook that one of the PALF contest winners, Mildred, just had a book of poetry published in Africa. My instructor Binyavanga is finishing up his time at Bard and fellow workshopper Nana may be coming to NYC this summer. I also heard that Jodie (one of the Admins for PALF) will be headed to England to focus on her writing.
Seeing, reading, hearnig these updates is always great and validating to know that they're still maintaining their creativity. That we're all at different stages of our lives, are healthy and working towards something. Perhaps we don't know what yet, but we're still striving as artists to succeed, to publicize ourselves and our interests, and supporting one another whether it be a simple comment of encouragement on Facebook or paying the fee to see them shine in front of a microphone.
Next year PALF is supposed to be held in Mali. I'm wavering making that my go-to writing spot for the summer or applying to the Iowa Writer's Workshop summer program or someplace else. I'm wavering if I want to go through the vaccinations, medicine, and potential sickness that may inflict me during my time there or if I should stay stateside and see what feedback I can get here. Thinking back to Ghana and how people worried over my well-being, checked in on me when I was at my lowest point, made me laugh and holler at their work in enthusiasm, or just shared my sense of mind when it came to ploughing through that work that seems like the monkey on your back. I think back to the day I got to dance in the rain to live music after eating joloff rice and consider that the experience and people are worth it, hands down.